Trading Chubb? Makes No Sense Here

Since the Cleveland Browns have never been to the Super Bowl, the NFL Draft seems to have taken the championship game’s place as the biggest football event of the season in northeast Ohio.

When the Browns were going through the teardown days of 1-15 and 0-16, talk about the draft started as early as October and consumed the thoughts of pigskin supporters for six months before the actual process.

Now that the Browns have improved have still had a playoff shot into December in each of the last three seasons, the draft talk has moved back a couple of months.

Compounding things for the draft obsessed is that the Browns have traded their first-round picks last year, this year, and next year for QB Deshaun Watson. It’s difficult to talk about who to draft when your team’s first choice comes on the second day of the event, which is when Cleveland will make its first selection at #42.

To mitigate these circumstances, both fans and media have found a remedy: The Browns should trade one of their best players, usually RB Nick Chubb, for draft picks.

This is a ludicrous solution.

First of all, we understand fans are irritated with the organization because they haven’t made the playoffs each of the last two season, but they certainly are in playoff contention mode.

One reason they will use to justify the move is salary cap space, but the cap is due to increase in 2023, and we are sure the Browns (as well as every team) will talk to players making a lot of money and get them to restructure their deals to create more space, and of course, there will be roster adjustments as well.

Our main objection to this is we find pretty improbable that trading great players, and Chubb is a great player, finishing second in the league in rushing this season, is a good way to make your team better. It would seem a better method would be to strengthen the roster around the great players you have, names like Myles Garrett, Joel Bitonio, and yes, Chubb.

That trio has pretty much made every All-Pro team announced in the last six weeks.

The logic on trading Chubb is the running game is de-emphasized in today’s NFL, so a running back that gained over 1500 yards on the ground isn’t needed. It certainly is a passing league, but the Ravens, Giants, Eagles, 49ers, Cowboys, and Bills, all playoff teams, finished in the top ten in the league in running the football.

But the primary argument against moving a running back that good is there is no assurance that you will find a better than average runner in the draft. Folks just assume that everyone available in the draft (or farm system for baseball fans) is going to be good.

They aren’t.

Could D’Ernest Johnson or Jerome Ford gain 1000 behind the Browns’ offensive line? Probably with enough carries. However, would defenses pay the same attention to those backs as they do to Chubb? We believe they wouldn’t.

Fans and media folks also use faulty logic. One sports talker said because Kansas City’s Isiah Pacheco was a 7th round pick and gained 830 yards, this is proof the Browns could find someone like that in the draft. FYI, the Raiders picked RB Brittain Brown one pick before Pacheco.

Brown played six games and didn’t have a carry for Las Vegas this season.

So, not every 7th round running back produces like Pacheco.

The way a professional sports team gets better is by ADDING talent. If you aren’t a contender and you can accumulate draft picks for a rebuild, that’s a different story.

We love Nick Chubb as a player, but because running back is devalued by other teams, we don’t think the Browns would get a first round pick anyone, unless it was a Super Bowl contender, and where would that pick fall?

Thankfully, Andrew Berry is the Browns’ GM and not sportstalk hosts or callers. We bet he feels like we do.

Schwartz Has The Chops To Fix The Defense

Let’s face it, the best thing about the Browns’ hiring of Jim Schwartz as defensive coordinator is that he is not Joe Woods. No doubt, fans had to be tired of the excuses and lack of communication on that side of the ball.

Another positive is the experience factor. It seems the most heralded assistant coach Kevin Stefanski has is offensive line coach Bill Callahan, a former college and pro head coach who has been around a long time. His unit is arguably the strongest on the team.

Why not add another veteran of the coaching wars. Schwartz got his start right here on the heralded Bill Belicheck Browns’ staff which also featured Nick Saban, Eric Mangini, Kirk Ferentz, and Woody Widenhofer. He’s been around the NFL for a long time.

We are not going to judge the hire now, nor are we going to predict how Schwartz is going to coach the defense. Our hope is he will do what good coaches do, that is, look at the personnel he has and develop a plan that maximizes the talent of the players.

In a radio interview, former Titans’ safety Blaine Bishop said Schwartz reinvents himself wherever he goes because he looks at the talent on the roster and adjusts his scheme to suit the strengths of the players. We certainly hope that trend continues.

However, in 14 years as defensive coordinator with Tennessee (2001-08), Buffalo (2014), and Philadelphia (2016-20), his defenses have finished in the top half of the league eight times, and six of those seasons ranked in the top ten in yards allowed.

In points allowed Schwartz’ defense finished in the top 16 nine times, four of those in the top ten.

He seems to put an emphasis on stopping the run, finishing in the top ten eight times in allowing rushing yards. That should be a relief to Cleveland football fans who watched opposing teams punish the Browns’ defense running the ball. The Browns probably would have been worse than 7-10 had some teams not forgotten the brown and orange couldn’t contain the running game.

We understand there will be an adjustment to a new coordinator next year, so it is unlikely the defense will be dominant to start the season, but really, is that any different from the last two seasons? In each of those years, Woods’ defense was below average in the first eight games.

We also get there will be some personnel changes too. But those would have been made anyway because it is doubtful the Browns would be able to effectively stop the ground game with the current roster. However, this team still has some top end players in Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Greg Newsome, and rookie Martin Emerson.

Our guess is Schwartz will look at those cornerbacks and will play more man-to-man than his predecessor, and we fully support that. He will also likely look at the defensive front and ask for help so the defense can be stouter against the run.

You know how we feel about that. You can’t win in the NFL unless you can stop the run.

Bringing in a veteran coach with a track record of success most likely isn’t a bad thing. The defense was the reason the Browns went 7-10 this season, not playcalling or lack of yelling by the head coach.

That’s why we should all be happy about the hire.

If We Were Kevin Stefanski This Off-Season

After the Browns’ loss at Cincinnati, we put out on social media that someday the team would lose a game and no one would blame the coach, but that wasn’t the day. That day wasn’t after Saturday’s loss to the Saints either.

It was an embarrassing loss, probably the second worst of the season, as nothing can top the debacle in week two against the Jets.

We aren’t saying Kevin Stefanski doesn’t have flaws, and he didn’t call a perfect game on Christmas Eve to be sure, but in watching the game unfold, after the Browns took a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, we thought to ourselves, get the next score and New Orleans might be done.

Instead, the Saints remembered what some teams have taken a quarter or two to recall: Cleveland can’t stop the run. Using a platoon of Andy Dalton and pretty much non-thrower Taysom Hill at QB and mixing in direct snaps to Alvin Kamara, New Orleans hammered the Browns’ defense for 152 yards on the ground on a bitter cold day.

It is the seventh game this year Cleveland has allowed 150 or more yards in running game. Yes, Stefanski’s play calling has been an issue at times, but if you want to really know why the Browns are 6-9 right now? The defense cannot stop the run.

Stefanski is a smart man and hopefully knows he can be better. So, if we were him, here’s what we would do when the season ends…

…fire Joe Woods as defensive coordinator and find someone who runs a defense that gives offenses something to think about. Woods’ plans are usually vanilla. He has games where he moves Myles Garrett around, and others where he lines up in the same spot every play. Some games blitzes are part of the plan, others they rush four, constantly. When you are in Stefanski’s position, you have to put friendships aside.

…tell Andrew Berry they need a wide receiver who rack up yards after the catch. The offense doesn’t have a threat to go the distance on every play, meaning every drive has to be multiple plays and converting first downs. The longest touchdown play of the year from scrimmage was Nick Chubb’s 41-yard run vs. the Chargers.

…utilize Chubb in the passing game more. Chubb is 4th in the NFL in rushing attempts at 276, but he’s only caught 21 passes and usually comes off the field in passing situations. By contrast, Derrick Henry (TEN) leads the league in attempts with 319 AND he’s caught 32 passes. Las Vegas’ Josh Jacobs is next at 306 carries and he’s caught 47 passes.

…get David Njoku the ball more. Yes, we know he dropped a certain TD pass on Saturday, but he’s probably the second biggest threat to go the distance on any play, behind Chubb.

…stop zagging when the other team zigs. Yes, when teams are trying to take any your best offensive player, figure out a way to get him the ball any way. You don’t have to ignore him, that’s what the defense wants.

…don’t change how you deal with the media. That’s not who Stefanski is and really, for the media to expect more at this point, is ridiculous.

We believe the coach deserves the opportunity to make adjustments, particularly with Watson at quarterback. And by the way, you can see Watson is an excellent player. If you look at numbers, you will think he didn’t play well in the win over the Ravens, but if you watched the game, he played very well.

Truly, the most disturbing news out of Berea was the report Sunday that owner Jimmy Haslam is enamored with the offense used by the University of Tennessee. Any reports of Haslam trying to influence the football people is terrifying.

It has been said before, the smartest people know what they don’t know. The Browns’ owner should consider that.

Browns Win, Still Have A Pulse

The Cleveland Browns live for another week.

A loss on Sunday to Tampa Bay would have pretty much put the final nail into the coffin representing the 2022 NFL season, but because David Njoku made a tremendous catch to send the game into overtime and the defense kept Tom Brady off the scoreboard in overtime, the Browns won it in the last minute to go to 4-7.

Now, nothing is for certain because it’s the NFL and you know, “Any Given Sunday”, but with the woeful Texans coming up on the schedule Cleveland should be able to get to 5-7, and then it’s a matter of winning division games if Kevin Stefanski’s squad have any chance at a playoff spot.

Again, the odds are heavily stacked against them, but there still is a chance.

Cleveland was able to win because the Buccaneers decided not to run the ball, probably because they have Tom Brady. In the first half, they had success (most teams do) on the ground, not ended the game with only 96 yards, albeit on just 20 attempts. So, they averaged almost five yards per carry. It was a situation similar to the first 20 minutes of the Buffalo game until the Bills remembered the Browns can’t stop the ground game.

They were able to dial up pressure on Brady in the fourth quarter. Myles Garrett, who some feel (we do not) doesn’t get “important” sacks, came up with one and a half late in the game and also drew a penalty for an offensive lineman having his hands in Garrett’s face.

He came up big in this one for sure.

Oh, and by the way, he now has 68.5 sacks in 78 career games. Since we go by the ProFootballreference.com statistics, that puts him 4th on the team’s all-time list behind Bill Glass (94 games), Clay Matthews (232 games), and Jerry Sherk (147 games).

They won because Martin Emerson played a tremendous game, holding Mike Evans to just two catches for 31 yards.

Last week, Denzel Ward took Stefon Diggs out of the game against Buffalo. Could the defense be beginning to realize their best option is to play man-to-man on outside receivers?

And they won because Nick Chubb was, well, Nick Chubb, gaining 116 yards on 26 carries, including a big run on the game tying drive.

It pushed Chubb over 1000 yards for the four straight year. The last Cleveland runner to do that? Try the GOAT: Jim Brown. He’s now 4th on the Browns’ all-time list behind Brown, Leroy Kelly, and Mike Pruitt. It’s not a stretch to think he could be #2 by the end of next season if he stays healthy.

Cleveland has six games left and likely needs to win all six, or at least five, but then the tiebreakers become an issue, and the Browns don’t have a lot, if any, advantages there.

The three non-divisional games are at Houston (1-9-1), home vs. New Orleans (4-8) and at Washington (7-5). And remember, Deshaun Watson is back for next week. The Browns have the talent to win those games, but the question remains as to whether or not they can.

And of course, there are the three divisional games, with Cleveland already at 2-1 against the AFC North. We know from the past, all of those games will be a dogfight.

It has been a disappointing season to say the least, but now they have their franchise QB back, a guy they committed a boatload of money to, and a player we believe is a top five quarterback in the NFL.

Could the Browns run the table? Probably not, but they have a chance, something they wouldn’t have without Njoku’s catch, Chubb’s running, and a defense that stepped up.

Browns Seem To Lack Accountability, Toughness.

Let’s say this right off the top. We don’t want Kevin Stefanski fired.

We get that’s the knee-jerk reaction from fans every time the Cleveland Browns lose a football game, particularly when it is a blowout loss, like Sunday’s 39-17 beatdown by the Miami Dolphins, but many times it just the easy way out.

If the Browns are indeed run primarily by Paul DePodesta, GM Andrew Berry, and Stefanski, and we are sure they meet all the time, they should be “self-auditing” as to how they lead this organization going forward.

This isn’t to say the defense isn’t the biggest problem on this football team. You simply cannot win at any level if you can’t stop the run and the Browns can’t do it.

However, Stefanski isn’t a Dan Campbell or Mike Vrabel type of coach or leader. He’s not out of the Hollywood prototype of what a head football coach should be. However, everyone needs to remember he did play at the college level.

Stefanski’s style might be fine if he had players who were vocal leaders, but it doesn’t seem he does. His best offensive player, Nick Chubb, leads by example. The player who talks the most is a guard, Joel Bitonio. On defense, Myles Garrett is accessible, but most talks in cliches.

Now, we don’t know what happens in the locker room (and by the way, neither do many of the folks commenting on the Browns in the media).

Some people have said the Browns have no identity, and we think it could be because they seem to be very reactive.

The Browns should be a running team, particularly with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback. But if the other team put eight or nine in the box, Cleveland throws it, and throws it some more.

We would love it if Stefanski called plays with the confidence of you know what, we are going to run it anyway. For Nick Chubb to get just 11 carries (as he did Sunday) in a game where he is healthy for all four quarters is unacceptable.

At times we think if Stefanski were coaching the Kansas City Chiefs, he would think to himself, the other team knows Patrick Mahomes is going to throw, so we have to run it a lot.

Andy Reid doesn’t think that way. No head coach should.

Same on defense. Our thought during the Dolphins game was if you know the opponent has great talent and you are just going to line up and rush four and play zone coverage, you are going to get beat. You need to do something that gets the Miami offense out of rhythm.

We can’t remember many plays, if there were any, where the Browns sent more than four rushers at Tua Tagovailoa. We also can’t recall Myles Garrett being moved around as to where he lined up. It doesn’t seem give the defense the best chance to succeed.

We wrote after the Bengals game that we learned the Browns were capable of playing that way defensively, so the expectations were increased. But maybe the defensive coordinator felt increased job security, so he reverted to what had been done in the past. It didn’t work then, and it didn’t work Sunday.

It seems like the organization lives in fear at times. Can’t admit mistakes on draft picks (they’ve cut just one in the Berry regime), can’t attack defensively because they might give up a big play, can’t stick with the strength of the team’s offense.

There can be a thing as being too smart for your own good. Maybe the Browns are stuck in that, and they need to remember this is football, a tough physical sport.

In the end, it’s another loss year for the fans, still waiting for a Super Bowl berth.

More Defensive Gaffes For The Browns Lead To A Loss

Being a Browns fan is filled with frustration on most Sundays it seems, and the 23-20 loss to Atlanta a couple of days ago was no exception.

We know Cleveland did not have either of their starting defensive ends, Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney, but to us, they still had the better roster going into the game and we felt they should have won regardless.

We get many people like to point fingers at Kevin Stefanski, blaming the head coach for losses is a cottage industry for northeast Ohio football fans, and we think getting only three points on two trips inside the five yard line isn’t acceptable. However, we felt going in the offense probably needed to score 30 points, and perhaps the head coach did as well.

And really, this is the first game you can point at the offense being a problem, particularly in the second half. Also, if they would have salvaged seven points out of the two goal line situations instead of three, the offense would have put up at least 23 points in each of the four games.

Going into the season without Deshaun Watson, the “formula” for winning was run the football and play defense. To date, the first thing has worked, the Browns rank second in the NFL in rushing after four games.

The defense continues to let the team down.

Against the Falcons, the problem was the rush defense, which up to this game was actually pretty good, although some issues started to creep up in the first half against the Steelers.

Atlanta gained over 200 yards on the ground, going the length of the field on one drive without completing a single pass. Usually, the Browns are doing that to opponents (they did have 177 yards on the ground themselves), but they were on the receiving end of it this time.

And it wasn’t as though the defense overreacted to Marcus Mariota lighting up the Cleveland secondary either. He was terrible, completing just 7 of 19 throws for 139 yards and an interception.

We don’t know what the record of teams giving up 200 yards rushing in the NFL is, but it is safe to assume that team rarely win when that occurs. It happened to the Browns most recently twice in 2020 against the Raiders and Ravens, and Stefanski’s crew lost both games.

We should also add in addition to having a porous defense against the rush, the defense also supplied another blown coverage in the secondary, which based on Mariota’s numbers in the second half, was likely the only way he could complete a pass.

We know GM Andrew Berry didn’t draft Denzel Ward, but he gave Ward a huge contract and he did draft Greg Newsome and Martin Emerson. We doubt we made those moves thinking they would be very effective in a zone scheme.

But that’s what they seem to be playing a good deal of the time.

By the way, we are curious as to what John Johnson III’s comment of “it wasn’t us” was all about. There still seems to be a lot of finger pointing on the defensive side of the ball.

Remember, this was the supposed “easy part” of the Browns’ schedule and they went 2-2. Things have to improve soon especially defensively if getting Watson back doesn’t become a moot point in terms of making the playoffs.

Luckily, no one has taken control in the AFC North.

Hey, It Counts, Right? Browns Are 1-0

A win is a win is a win. That’s what Browns’ fans should be saying today after Sunday’s 26-24 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

We believe Jim Donovan, the radio play-by-play man for the Browns said it best. It’s a good win, because it would have been a terrible loss had rookie Cade York not made a 58-yard field goal to win it and give Cleveland their first 1-0 start to a season since 2004.

It is difficult to win in the NFL, so no one should take anything for granted, but the despite Deshaun Watson’s suspension, the Browns have a better football team than Carolina, and should get a win against them.

However, going forward they will need much better play from QB Jacoby Brissett, who was pedestrian to be kind in the opener, completing 18 of 34 passes for just 147 yards and a touchdown. That’s 4.32 yards per attempt, the lowest of any starting quarterback in the league in week one.

We think he will be better this week, but it will be tough to beat any good team in the NFL with this kind of passing attack. Just something to watch.

Donovan’s comment comes from the Browns simply dominating most of the game. They controlled the ball for 38 minutes.

But two missed coverages (we presume) by the secondary put Carolina right back in the game. Down 14-0 in the second quarter, Panthers’ QB Baker Mayfield found Ian Thomas wide open for a 50-yard gain, and Carolina converted into a TD.

Then, after York’s third field goal made it 23-14 Cleveland, the defensive backfield had another mix up resulting in a 75-yard bomb to Robbie Anderson, and suddenly it was a ballgame.

These types of mistakes seems to happen too often for the Browns. Remember, the Chargers game from a year ago, when it occurred twice. both times with Cleveland leading. And most times, you have players looking at each other as if to say “I thought you were supposed to take him”.

That has to be cleaned up for sure.

The run defense, which was a concern of ours, was fine, but then again, the Panthers didn’t really try to run the ball, attempting just 19 times for 54 yards. Their best play besides the two long passes was a recovered fumble off a bad snap that Christian McCaffrey ran for 30 yards.

That actually breathed some life into the Panthers.

Other thoughts-–

Myles Garrett had two sacks, bringing his career total to 60.5 tying him for fifth on the team’s all time list with Paul Wiggin. Next up for Garrett is Walter Johnson at 66.

Is there a more underrated great player in the NFL currently than Nick Chubb? He gained 141 yards on 22 carries and seemed to do it without notice. He’s averaging 5.3 yards per attempt for HIS CAREER.

We know GM Andrew Berry tried to address the return game by signing free agent Jakeem Grant, but they need to find a punt returner and quick. Demetric Felton seemed to have problems with the first three punts to him and actually fumbled the third, but luckily the Browns recovered.

Good to see coach Kevin Stefanski use Chubb and Kareem Hunt at the same time. Along with Amari Cooper, they are the team’s biggest offensive weapons.

And kudos to Donovan Peoples-Jones who had an excellent game with six catches, most of which were in traffic.

For Browns, Time To Win Is Now, Even Without Watson

This Sunday, the Cleveland Browns kickoff the 2022 NFL season with a game against their old quarterback, Baker Mayfield, who is now leading the Carolina Panthers.

With suspended QB Deshaun Watson sidelined for the first 11 games of the regular season, expectations by many media people, both local and national, aren’t very high and most of the experts have Cleveland missing the playoffs.

We are not one of those people.

The Browns have talent at many positions. They have probably the best tandem or running backs in the league in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. They have two of the best guards in the NFL, and a top wide receiver in Amari Cooper.

That’s just the offense.

The defense features perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate Myles Garrett, former first overall pick Jadeveon Clowney, and Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward.

The entire defensive backfield should be very good and along with the pass rusher should deter an aerial assault from opponents.

We would like to see the defense improve against the run. Cleveland ranked 12th against the run last season, and the old adage is even in today’s pass-happy NFL, you can’t win if you don’t stop the run.

Kevin Stefanski was Coach of the Year in 2020, but his team fell to 8-9 a year ago, and frankly, we think he needs to answer some questions this season. By the way, they doesn’t mean we want him fired, but we would like to see him grow as a head coach.

We believe Stefanski lost confidence in the offensive line after injuries hampered Jedrick Wills and took Jack Conklin out for the year, and that’s why he became reactive in his play calling. What we mean is a philosophy of “the defense is taking away the run, so we have to pass”.

And we think we ask this every year, but why can’t there be a package where Chubb and Hunt are on the field together? If you ranked the offensive skill players by ability, wouldn’t those two rank in the top three?

However, we feel the time to win for the Cleveland Browns is now, and frankly we don’t care if Watson is missing the first 11 games this year. The organization put themselves in this position, so if Cleveland winds up 7-10 this season, the blame should be put at their feet.

As for the coaching staff, come up with a scheme that moves the ball, puts points up on the scoreboard and keeps the other team off of it. That’s why they are coaching in the NFL.

The challenge for the coaches is to minimize Jacoby Brissett’s weaknesses, so the Browns can remain in contention when Watson returns to the lineup. Put players like Garrett, Ward, Chubb, Hunt, Cooper and TE David Njoku in situations where they can make an impact.

We don’t want to hear that missing the playoffs is okay because of the Watson suspension, the organization can’t be alright with writing off another season.

Winning is necessary. The Browns have the better team in our opinion this Sunday and should win the game. We won’t excuse them if they do.

The Browns aren’t an average team hoping their quarterback can lift them to playoff contention, they are a very good team that needs the QB to go along for the ride.

Should Browns Get Better At QB?

So, finally we know. The Cleveland Browns know QB Deshaun Watson will miss the first 11 games of the 2022 season, returning ironically, against his former team, the Houston Texans on December 4th.

The question becomes how many of those 11 games will Jacoby Brissett be behind center for Cleveland?

Brissett was signed to be a back up quarterback, when the Browns’ front office thought Watson’s suspension would be no longer than six games. They figured the former Patriot and Colt signal caller could handle that amount of games.

Now, they will need him to play at the highest level of his career for five additional games.

We have written before that the Browns’ roster is ready to win right now. They have one of the top running backs in the NFL in Nick Chubb, one of the sports’ best pass rushers in Myles Garrett and perhaps the best pair of interior linemen in the league in guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller.

And we haven’t even mentioned stars like Denzel Ward, Jadeveon Clowney, Amari Cooper, and Kareem Hunt.

The organization cannot wait while Brissett leads the Browns to say, a 4-7 start to the season.

And maybe he won’t, but we would minimize the risk in that happening by looking for another QB to be the starter in the majority of those contests.

Last season, the front office and the fan base was upset with a passer who had a 60.5% completion percentage and had 17 touchdown passes, 13 interceptions and a 7.2 yards per attempt.

Brissett’s career completion percentage is 60.2, although he did hit on 62.7% of his throws a year ago, when he started five games for Miami. He hit a higher percentage, but only had 5.7 yards per attempt, and he threw five TD passes vs. four to the opponents.

If Browns’ supporters didn’t like how Baker Mayfield played a year ago, they will likely be getting the same type of performance from Brissett. Think about that for a moment.

That’s why we said as early as three months ago we would go after Jimmy Garoppolo. We know he is coming off a shoulder injury. We know his current team wants to dump his salary. We know he’s had a long issue with staying healthy.

We also know last season, the nine year veteran completed 68.3% of his passes, and his career mark is 67.7%. His yards per attempt was 8.6 better than both Mayfield and Brissett and he threw 20 TD passes against 12 picks.

And he took the Niners to a Super Bowl in 2019 and to the NFC Championship Game in 2021.

Could he start week one if the Browns dealt for him today? Probably not, but could he take over in week three? Probably.

Does it have to be Garoppolo? No, but we think it would behoove GM Andrew Berry to find someone better than Brissett, who is a fine back up.

However, right now, Brissett is not the reserve QB, he’s the starter, and barring injury, he will be for the first three months of the 2022 season. And we say there is too much at stake for this franchise to not try to get better at the most important position in pro sports.

Berry is always saying he is always looking for opportunities to improve the Browns. Let’s hope he is doing that at quarterback right now.

If Watson Is Out For A While, Browns Can’t Sit Idle

As the Deshaun Watson saga continues, the thing that keeps creeping into our minds is what happens if the NFL decides on a full year suspension for the recently acquired quarterback.

Or really, any suspension longer than eight games, a little more than half of the season.

If Watson would be out of action for a span of more than 50% of the league’s schedule, it would seem GM Andrew Berry would be back in the market for a QB. There is too much at stake for this franchise to have to play Jacoby Brissett for a majority of the schedule.

This isn’t a knock on Brissett, who is a very good back up signal caller, and perfectly capable of guiding the Browns to some wins in a limited time span. However, we don’t think anyone believes he’s a guy who can lead a team to the playoffs.

And why is it important for the Browns to be able to be in the playoff mix this season? Simple, look at the roster and the number of great players in the prime of their career. Nick Chubb is 27, Myles Garrett is 27, Denzel Ward is 25, Amari Cooper is 28.

Add another year to all of those guys if the 2022 season comes and goes without a long playoff run.

Three of the oldest players on the squad are offensive linemen in Joel Bitonio (31), Jack Conklin (28) and Wyatt Teller (28). We saw first hand what happened last year when Conklin went out after the Chargers game.

There is no question this is one of the strongest units on the roster. Will they still be able to play up to the 2020 standards in ’23? Maybe, but the wear and tear takes its toll at some point.

The Browns were the fourth youngest team in the NFL a year ago at 25.61 years of age by average. Let’s just say Cleveland would be at 26.61 this year. They’d be the seventh oldest relating to the ranking for the 2021 season.

Now, we know that won’t be the case because rookies will make the team and some veterans on the end of the roster will be replaced by younger players. But it does show how closely bunched the age of the men on an NFL roster is.

You can be a young team one season and a grizzled veteran team in a span of two years.

And that’s why if Watson is ruled out for most, if not all of the 2022 season, the front office has to find a better option than Brissett. And no, it won’t be Baker Mayfield, the Browns have napalmed that relationship, although we understand why to national people it would make the most sense.

We have suggested before, could Mayfield be traded for another QB? A proven one? Outside of Jimmy Garoppolo, there probably isn’t one out available, but could the Browns be interested in bringing in the veteran for one season?

You would think they most definitely would.

No doubt Berry is already doing some groundwork in the event the ruling is a one year suspension for Watson. With a talent laden roster, wasting a year isn’t an option for the Cleveland Browns.